Third Wheels
by Red Okra
Summary: Somehow, they are always each other's company whenever they met up with their mutual friends, Gray and Juvia. [Lyon x Meredy]
1. Ch 1: Reunited

The first time they were formally introduced was during the opening of an amusement park beside a land near Magnolia.

She was with the blue-haired water mage who was once the woman of his dreams, while he was with the dark-haired Ice-Make mage whom the said woman had fallen in love with. Also, he might be what he'd considered closest to a brother. Closest to an idiot brother, that is.

"Gray-sama, Lyon-sama! What brings you here?" Juvia asked with wide eyes. Her face flushed crimson and she gasped dramatically. "Could it be? That the two of you are on a-"

"Heavens, no, Juvia! We're _NOT_ on a date," Gray responded immediately in annoyance, "Stop your fantasizing with this nonsense."

"We just happened to stumble upon each other on a certain place, Juvia-chan," Lyon replied in a more calm and friendly manner, "I have some errands to do in Magnolia so we decided to head there together, but we discovered this place on the way there. There is no need for any misunderstandings."

"Juvia sees..." she uttered with a odd tone mixed with relief and disappointment, "But now that you're here, would the two of you like to go with Juvia and Meredy to the amusement part? If you're not busy, that is!"

Gray agreed, explaining that he had nothing else to do that day anyway.

Likewise, Lyon stated that his errands were not really urgent. "Would it be alright for your friend, though?" he questioned politely, glancing at the pinkette beside Juvia. The water mage similarly turned to her and waited for her response.

"Not a problem," Meredy answered with a smile, "The more, the merrier, right?"

He only smiled back.

With everything settled, the four entered the amusement park.

"How'd you two end up here?" Gray asked, turning to the two girls.

"Oh, Meredy and her companions just moved in to town this week! Previous days have been quite stressful for her, especially with the matters with the council, but now that it's done, Juvia wanted to help her relax a bit, and the opening of this park was just at the perfect timing!"

"I'm really grateful, Juvia," Meredy said, "It wasn't an easy process attaining this freedom granted by the newly reformed council, but I'm just glad it's all over. Thank you for this trip, too!"

Juvia smiled at her back. "Oh! Juvia just remembered something!" She turned to Lyon, and then to her pink-haired friend. "The two of you haven't been introduced to each other, right?"

Lyon breathed out and took initiative. He reached out his hand with the same small smile he gave earlier.

"Lyon," he said.

She looked at him. She already knew who he was, of course; he was one of the popular names that people looked up to during the Grand Magic Games.

She shook his hand.

"Meredy," she said.

And he already knew her as well. He learned of her existence around the time Tenrou Island disappeared, due to her connection with Ultear, the daughter of his teacher.

"You know," Gray interjected as they released their hands from each other's grip. "I just realized that this isn't the first time the four of us are together."

And they all knew that. Yet they did not allow the painful moments of dragons and death go over their heads as they went over the various rides and stalls, passively drowning away the negative emotions with newer, more positive memories together.


	2. Ch 2: A Little Game

The first few rides had been quite decent, at least, giving them lasting excitement by the time they reached the exit gates of the rides.

While walking in between from rides, they all agreed that for the two-seater rides, Juvia would sit beside Meredy while Gray beside Lyon.

"Sorry, Gray-sama!" Juvia exclaimed while clasping her hands together in front of her, "You would have to sit with Lyon-sama and not Juvia... After all, Meredy is Juvia's original date, while Lyon-sama is yours!"

Gray decided to ignore the implications of her very last statement. "Not a problem. As long as he doesn't vomit on me."

"Excuse me," the older ice mage retorted back, crossing his arms, "Just don't cling on me when the ride goes plummeting down."

Apart from minor arguments between the two ice mages on who got to sit first, they generally had no problems with the rest of the attractions in the park.

Until they came across one ride.

_The Tunnel of Love._

"No. Way." Gray stared at the sign with a disbelieving look on his face. "No way in hell am I gonna ride that with him!"

Lyon was equally unpleased. "What makes you think I'm gonna ride it with you?"

"Aww, come on! Juvia thinks it'll be fun!" The water mage approached the boys as she tried her best to convince them to go along. "Didn't Gray-sama ride the Love Slide with Lyon-sama before? Juvia doesn't see why this would be any different!"

"Ugh, I'd rather ride it with you than with him!" Gray said in an outburst, but immediately started regretting it after seeing the shocked look on Juvia's face, which only lasted briefly, as her face then transformed into one immensely hopeful.

"R-really, Gray-sama?" Juvia's face was already as scarlet as Erza's hair.

"T-that doesn't mean I wanna do it!"

Juvia's mind was clearly in another world already.""OHH GRAY-SAMA! Is that an indirect confession of your love?"

Gray continued turning her down and was finding ways to escape. His eyes met with the pinkette. "How about Meredy?"

"Actually, Gray," Meredy responded quickly with her index finger pointed upwards. "I was going to suggest that we trade places, for now, at least!"

Juvia's smile grew even wider. "Really, Meredy? Thank you! How about you, then?"

"Don't worry about me, Lyon and I could wait for the two of you here." The pinkette turned to the silver-haired mage, "Unless, you want to ride that as well? I could see a lane for the singles out there!"

He peered over to what she was referring to and had a glimpse of various women seemingly waiting for their Prince Charmings. He grimaced. "No thanks, I can wait with you." The thought of being paired to random females who appeared hungry for love didn't really appeal for him.

"Wait, don't I have a say for this?" Gray started to complain, but Meredy ignored him and grinned.

"That settles it, then!" The Maguilty mage pushed them towards the ticket booth until Juvia did the job for her for the rest of the trip to the queue line.

As soon as Meredy was beside Lyon again, neither of them started to speak, encasing them in an awkward silence.

"Nice weather we have today," Lyon said after some seconds, trying to break the ice.

"Hmm, yeah."

Another moment of silence.

"Why did you do that, though?" He tried again, as glanced at the floating hearts and some flying angels of love circulating around the exterior of the attraction. "The outside is pretty impressive in itself. Just imagine what you'd see on the inside if you only went with Juvia."

Meredy casually leaned her back against the metal fences. "After all we have been through, Juvia had been nothing but really nice to me. This is the least I could do to pay her back." She watched as he similarly leaned back and rested his elbows on the railing. "Besides, Gray seems to have no real qualms about it. I mean, did you see how he allowed her to pull him towards the queue?"

Lyon huffed in irritation. "Eh. Stupid Gray is just being his stubborn self."

"What is this? Is this bitterness I see?" She smirked. "Sorry though, Juvia is my friend so I support her happiness. I hope you forgive me for making her steal Gray away from you!"

Lyon looked as if he would be having a headache. "Please do me a favor and stop this boy love nonsense with Gray. Juvia saying it is just enough."

She easily hopped onto the railing and sat on it, balancing herself. "Haha, I was just messing with you, of course. I know who you really like. Your public confession of affections was pretty much one of the highlights during the Grand Magic Games."

Lyon tried to look not too embarrassed with his actions before. "That was a thing of the past. I have learned to let go of my feelings for her."

"So you could have space for your feelings for Gra-"

"Please no."

"Heh."

A brief moment of awkward silence followed.

Lyon flicked his arm in front of him as if checking the time, even if he didn't really have a watch. "Well, they seem to be taking their time."

Meredy only giggled. "Relax, will you? Not even three minutes has passed."

Silence.

Without warning, Meredy hopped off the fence and landed squarely on the ground, slightly startling him. "God, this is awkward!" She strode in front of Lyon and boldly placed her hands on her waist. "Lyon, let's play a game."

The other mage raised an eyebrow at her sudden proposition, but decided to humor her anyway. He found her pretty amusing and odd at the same time. "What kind of game?"

"It's the '_Know-who-Lyon-has-the-strongest-feelings-for_' game!"

If his personality was still his past self, he would've outwardly said that it was ridiculous and _she_ was ridiculous. But he was already a changed man, and this Meredy girl seemed sweet enough, so he still decided to play along, even though part of him thought that he would regret it soon. "Interesting. What should I do?"

Her eyes gleamed in excitement. "Wow, you're like, the first person ever to accept this without throwing me off! Not even Jellal wanted to play this with me... Though to be fair, pretty much everyone already knows who he has the strongest feelings for, hehe!"

The way she happily bounced and pranced seemed to lessen Lyon's anxiety. A bit. "So? What do I do?"

"All you need to do is relax, and close your eyes!"

And he obeyed. After about five seconds, he felt a chilly breeze of air flowing in front of him, as if he was riding a boat in a calm river. There was also warm sensation encircling his right arm.

"And now you're connected! You can open your eyes now!"

And so he did. He was almost afraid to ask. "What...did you do to me?"

"Right now, you are sharing your sensations with the person you have the strongest feelings for! Just wait a minute while I analyze the magical signature of that lucky person!"

As Meredy closed her eyes in concentration, Lyon took it as the opportunity to check if she did something weird with his body, and the only thing out of the blue was the pink seal around his right wrist. He was startled by her for the second time when she loudly exclaimed, "A-HA!"

Again, he was almost afraid to ask. "What now?"

"What a surprise!...or not," she deadpanned, but then she raised her voice again in a dramatic tone, "The person you have the strongest feelings for in a one kilometer radius is no one other than...Gray!"

Lyon frowned with great displeasure. "Stop screwing with me."

"Oh, but I'm not!"

"Either you're messing with me or your magic's a fraud."

She feigned an offended gasp. "My Maguilty Sense magic could never lie! It only analyzes your own emotions, so the only one lying here could be yourself!"

"Well then, I'm probably feeling the strongest emotion of hate towards him."

"Orrrrr you two are actually secret lovers! The great Meredy intuition is never wrong!" She began laughing heartily.

He however found it far from amusing. "Shut it. Release me now."

"Okay, okay," she managed to say in between her laughs, "To be honest, I could only detect strong emotions from a target. I have no idea what particular emotion it is... Only you, the target, could really know what is-whether it's romantic love, familial love, hate, anger, whatever feeling you could imagine! Unless of course, I join your Sensory Link!"

He was quite baffled at how she could immediately shift from being an annoying little jest to someone capable of explaining seemingly serious things in a lighter tone. Because of this, he didn't notice how she clenched her hand into a fist and then began pounding it on his chest three times. Afterwards, the seal on his wrist vanished.

Lyon looked at the area where she hit him. "What was that for?"

She only grinned mischievously. "Nothing. Thank you for being a good sport!"

He only huffed in annoyance, remembering what she did to him earlier.

"You're so kind," she added. The comment caught him off-guard, and for some reason, seeing her with a more sincere smile made his cheeks warm.

"Of course. How could you do that to the gentlemanly me who chose to accompany you here?"

"Sorry. I'll make it up to you next time."

_Next time?_

"Meredy, Lyon-sama!"

The two shifted their heads to the source of the voice, and they saw their companions coming out from the exit gate of the attraction.

Juvia ran towards them, with Gray lagging behind. "Meredy, Meredy! You'll never guess what happened!" The water mage proceeded to share how she had the most romantic time of her life, plus, how Gray outrightly exclaimed that he felt something pounding on his chest thrice, which Juvia automatically assumed that it was his heart saying "I love you."

Meredy only chuckled.

At the same time, though in a less detailed manner, Gray began to share to Lyon how decent the ride was and how he actually enjoyed the effects, though for some reason, his emotions immediately shifted into intense frustration upon seeing the giant cupid towards the end. It dawned to Lyon how that phenomenon happened, but he wasn't going to admit his little game with Meredy anyway, so he joked that the cupid probably reminded him of Ichiya.

To his surprise, Gray actually agreed.

And then he heard the sound of laughter coming out of Meredy's mouth, and soon, he realized that he was laughing with her as well.

She was definitely amusing. Odd, but amusing.


	3. Ch 3: Potato

The previous month, the remaining members of Crime Sorcière and Oración Seis had been freed of their charges from the Magic Council. Various debates amongst the new council arose, one sector voting for the arrest of the former criminals, while the other for their freedom. After several deliberations, the latter sector won, justifying that they played a vital role in the eradication of the evils caused by dark guild Tartaros. They gave valuable service for the citizens of Fiore with their action, which they thought had already equated to their supposed years of sentence.

Certain measures were still to be followed however, and they were allowed to be free, live amongst people, and be regarded as criminals no longer provided that: they swear to work together with the council to eradicate the remaining dark guilds in the country; never to allow themselves be part of dark organizations again; and not to engage themselves in law-breaking acts. Furthermore, they had to live together in the quarters that the council prepared, for security purposes.

He learned of this from Jura, who had become one of the jurors in the newly-reformed council.

"Thank you for delivering this package," the wizard saint, who was temporarily residing at Magnolia for his duties with the council, said to Lyon as the latter handed over a small parcel.

"It's no problem, Jura-san."

"I hope you and the others back in Lamia Scale are doing well."

Lyon nodded with a small smile. "We are. Though we quite miss your presence in the guild house."

"Duty calls for the new council, I'm afraid. But I should be back after all things are settled," Jura said while stroking his long beard, "For the mean time, I hope you won't mind if I ask you to deliver more packages in the coming weeks."

"Any time, Jura-san. It's a pleasure of mine."

As the two of them were about to bid their goodbyes, a booming voice was heard from behind the bald man.

"Jura-san, my friend! It's been a while!"

Jura appeared to recognize the voice and turned around, then greeting an enormous man with polygonal features and orange locks.

"Ah, Richard-dono, I'm glad to see you well! It's been years since we last saw each other."

The man gave out a hearty laugh as he reached out a potato from his bag. "Hohoho! Of course! Apart from your presence, I'd recognize that head anywhere!"

He also exchanged a friendly greeting to Lyon, which he returned politely. For the ice mage, he was also a familiar face. His past name had been Hoteye, a money-loving dark mage who once engaged in combat with the wizard saint when they fought Oración Seis. At present however, he was more of a prophet of love than anything else, making Lyon think that he'd easily get along with Sherry and Chelia.

"There you are, Richard!" another voice interjected, this time, female, "I've been looking all over for you!"

The voice was familiar, Lyon thought, as the three of them turned their heads in-sync at the source of the voice.

"Oh! Meredy-san! My apologies!"

Ah, it was _her_, of course. His favorite person of the previous day, who, at the moment, was carrying a paper bag seemingly full of vegetables. A big pillow also appeared to be strapped on her back.

Richard explained that he was shopping for groceries with Meredy that day and that the girl became too distracted with her youth that he lost her amongst the crowd.

"Hey, it wasn't me who got lost," the pinkette protested, "I was in the middle of choosing the fluffiest pillow for Macbeth when you suddenly disappeared!"

"Hohoho, you caught me," Richard admitted, fiddling his moustache nervously, "I actually caught a glimpse of a super potato sale in one aisle, and I couldn't let that opportunity pass! See?" He proudly displayed the sack of potatoes around on one of his arms.

"Which reminds me, Richard-dono," Jura interposed, "There is a delegation right now amongst earth magic users regarding a project funded by the Agricultural Committee, and as a wizard skilled with such, I extend my invitation for you to join us."

Richard grinned with much glee. "Of course! Of course! Anything for the benefit of love, youth, and all of Earthland! These groceries, however, which include essential toiletries such as Sorano's shampoo and Erik's favorite earplugs...! They need to be brought home immediately with Meredy-san!"

The polygonally-shaped man suddenly turned to Lyon.

With sparkling, dark eyes.

Lyon gulped.

In the end, they ended up together once more. With a bag of vegetables (and potatoes) in hand.

"Thanks for agreeing to help me with all of these," Meredy said, peeking at him sideways from the vegetables in front of her.

"Actually, I was going to volunteer anyway," Lyon said, who had his hands full of the groceries previously held by Richard, "It would be rather ungentlemanly of me to let you carry all of these all the way back home, right?"

Meredy chuckled at the familiarity of his words. "Charming, aren't you? I thought it was Richard's speech of love and youth which got you helping me!"

He smirked. "Where are we headed to, anyway?"

"Our home within the woods of Magnolia, just a few minutes walk from the entrance. The council situated us there, 'for security purposes,' they say. But I bet what they really want to say is 'we are still very wary of you!'" She sighed, displaying a sad smile. "Can't blame them, of course."

Lyon only observed her quietly.

"But I guess it's okay though, even though we're in monitored quarters, we're pretty much free to do whatever we want as long as we don't break our oaths. This is way much better than being on the run, I think."

"I see," Lyon finally responded, "I guess you just need to show them that you guys are really on the same side now."

The corners of her lips curved upwards in a happier way. "Yeah. Jellal, Richard and the others, they all just had unfortunate pasts which moulded them into what they had been, but deep down, they're really good people."

"_Wouldn't that include you, too_?" he thought of asking, but she continued to speak.

"Good people, they are, but really lazy too!" The vegetables inside the bag began to rattle with her sudden ranting. "My goodness, they're going to be the death of me!"

Lyon almost snorted with the shift of her mood. "What made you say that?"

"These groceries, I mean! No one but Richard was willing to go with me! Don't get me started on the cleaning duties! I swear, they got way too used to their sedentary lifestyles in prison!"

"How about Jellal, then?"

She shrugged. "He said he would be accompanying Erza in the park today. He wouldn't admit it's a date, though. So frustrating!"

He tried to suppress his laughter. "Well, why don't you assign them a task per week?" he suggested, as they took a turn towards one of the streets, nearing the entrance gates of Magnolia, "Like if they don't follow it, no food or supplies and the like."

"Ohhh, that is a good idea!" Meredy beamed as she hugged her bag excitedly. "I'll try that! I'd start delegating each task per week as soon as I get home. If they don't follow it, they can just go die of hunger or something!"

He tried not to be disturbed with the way her smiling face turned dark with her last statement.

Soon, they managed to reach their quarters. It was a relatively small building with simple structures surrounded by trees.

"You can leave them here," she said, pointing towards the doorstep, "Thanks for accompanying me again. It sure made my walk seem shorter, I almost didn't notice that we were already here!"

He had just placed the groceries by the door. "No problem. I'll be taking my leave, then."

"Wait!" she managed to say before he could turn around, as she reached out her arm to him with something on her hand.

A potato?

The questioning look on his face prompted her to speak.

"I did say I'll make it up to you yesterday, right? You're welcome!"

He shook his head in amusement as he reached out his hand to claim the brown vegetable. "You're only supposed to say that after I say, 'thank you.'"

She only grinned back as she waved him goodbye.

He stared at the vegetable in his hand. He could not help but smile.

Really amusing, she was.

Walking towards Magnolia again, his mind was too preoccupied that he did not notice Juvia and Gray walking the opposite direction.

"Is that...Lyon-sama?" the water mage asked, turning her head to the withdrawing form of the silver-haired male. "He seems very happy though! Juvia wonders why."

Gray did not miss the sight of the potato in his hand. Questions raised on his mind, but he decided to conclude, "I bet he's just going crazy."


	4. Ch 4: Captured

He was sitting alone on a bench in the middle of the park by the time she arrived. Her eyes were fixated on something she was holding in front of her, so she did not seem to notice his presence from afar.

"Hey, look who's here," he greeted pleasantly by the time she was near enough. The look of surprise in her face confirmed that she too was not expecting him. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"Oh, neither did I!" she replied in a similar good-natured manner. She strode her way towards the bench he was sitting on. "Juvia didn't tell me you'd be here too. Good to see you again."

"Likewise," he said as he watched her sit down on the empty spot beside him.

Yesterday he received a message from the water mage, inviting him to a fire-display show organized by a friend of her. While he was more a fan of anything involving lower temperatures himself, he accepted her invitation out of courtesy. Besides, he would be heading to Magnolia anyway for another package for Jura.

"So, where are they, anyway?" she asked while side-glancing at him, "I assume Gray is also here?"

"He is. They left a while ago to purchase the tickets for the show. If it weren't for me, Juvia would've bought them by herself."

Meredy took note of the rather irate tone of his voice and smirked in amusement. "Why? What happened earlier?"

He scratched the back of his neck with annoyance. "The three of us arrived here pretty much at the same time. Juvia said that she could go and buy the tickets already while we wait here. Gray really seemed like he was going to let her buy them by herself, so I volunteered to escort her. It was only then when that idiot stood up and said he'd accompany her instead."

"Aww, how sweet!" the pinkette exclaimed as she dropped the thing she was holding earlier on her lap. It was one of those lacrima-powered mobile devices. "Are you playing the 'bad guy' on purpose to give Gray a little push?"

He sighed in defeat. "He's really hopeless. Even I wouldn't say he's not interested in her. He's just too stubborn to admit it."

"I see. I was kinda wondering what's your motivation for staying around."

"Don't get me wrong, though," he said as he leaned his elbow on the back support of the bench, "This is more for Juvia. If that idiot still would not accept her feelings, I won't hesitate to sweep her off her feet again."

She only gave him a knowing smile. "Okay, if you say so."

When the atmosphere was quiet again, Lyon glanced over at her and learned that she was preoccupied with her device once more. She noticed him looking at her.

"Aii, sorry! I hope you don't find me rude for playing." Her face flushed pink in embarrassment. "To be honest I was expecting that I'd be alone today while waiting for them, so I brought this! Just let me finish this battle so I could save my progress, then I'll keep it in my bag."

He shook his head affably. "I don't mind. What are you playing, anyway?"

Her emerald orbs remained glued on the screen. "It's CaptchaMon."

"Cupcha-what?"

"Capt-cha-Mon!" she corrected, stressing greatly on each syllables of the word. "Basically your aim here is to capture these monsters, train them, and win battles against other trainers so you'd become the great CaptchaMon Champion!"

Seeing her enthusiasm, he tried to subdue a laugh while her fingers continued pressing vigorously on the screen. "Sounds pretty interesting."

"It is," she responded as she commanded her CaptchaMon to launch a powerful sun beam at her opponent, bringing its health points down.

The park was generally peaceful that day, and only the resonate sounds of Meredy's tapping fingers were heard. Lyon gradually grew content in watching her command her virtual battle pets until she offered her device for him to play with. "You should try it. It's really fun!"

"I'd rather watch you play, " he declined politely, "Besides, I don't really know how to play..."

"No no no! I insist!" She shoved her pink device on his hands. "I'll even teach you! It's pretty easy!"

The next thing he knew, she was giving him a crash course on the virtual game, patiently explaining the mechanics as Lyon maneuvered the player in the pixelated universe. Minutes passed and the quiet discussions soon erupted into passionate CaptchaMon outbursts.

"No! Why did you bring out Icee-kun against his Fire Chameleon? Don't you know that ice-types are weak against fire?!"

"In what universe is ice weak against fire?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the CaptchaMon universe?!"

"Ridiculous! I'll just overpower him with Icee-kun's superior ice moves! Icee-kun has the level advantage, anyway!"

The banter went on until Lyon emerged victorious, with Icee-kun barely having any health points left. Meredy sighed in relief.

From the distance, Juvia and Gray witnessed their rather animated exchange.

"Looks like Meredy's there already," Gray uttered with the tickets in hand. "Well, they seem to be having fun. Is that the reason why you invited them over?"

"Yes, they seem to be getting along quite well," Juvia admitted as she continued watching them, "Plus, the potatoes are in their favour!"

Gray gave her a weird look. This girl really spouted some odd words sometimes. "Potatoes?"

In the back of Juvia's mind, she somehow interconnected the image of Lyon staring happily at a potato two weeks ago, along with the sack of potatoes on Meredy's front door when they visited her on the same day.

The blue-haired mage giggled. "Nothing. Let's call them now, Gray-sama. Totomaru-kun's fire show will be starting soon!"


	5. Ch 5: Pandemonium

A/N: Hello guys! Thank you again for all your follows and reviews. I'll do my best to keep updating. Anyway, I hope this chapter isn't too confusing! (These might have some granmatical errors too but I'll edit them eventually!)

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><p>Fiore had been thankfully a lot more peaceful weeks after the defeat of the dark guild Tartaros. The fall of the last of the Balam Alliance certainly provided relief for the citizens of the country, magic users and ordinary persons alike.<p>

Lyon passed by the Kardia Cathedral, one of the major casualties in Magnolia brought upon by the terror of Tartaros. Reconstruction efforts were being made for the massive building after it was pulverized by an enormous cube monster. Infrastructures were not the only things affected, unfortunately; even the agricultural fields where the giant Faces erupted from were desolated. It caused a great lack of food supply at first, not only for Magnolia but to neighboring cities as well. However, with the efforts of diligent mages who took initiative and stepped up for the greater good, they ultimately recovered.

And now they were at the height of recovery, where the crops were flourishing greatly once more. It called for a celebration in Magnolia, whose citizens grew to love festivals, probably with the influence of a certain guild residing in the city, Lyon thought.

The festival was also the reason for his presence in the city. Jura, one of the leaders of the Agricultural Committee, had already informed him of the event beforehand, so he was not surprised when Juvia invited him for another get-together.

_A big festival for good harvest will happen in Magnolia this week. There will be a program like amazing fruit slicing and Juvia has front row tickets. Gray-sama and Meredy will be there. Hope you can come!_

Those were the words from Juvia's note. He would be lying if he said there was not even a slight tingle in his heart upon reading her message. After all, he did like the water mage, and who would not be happy receiving an invitation from a person you admire? The feelings never really went away, even if he did give up in pursuing her.

He took a turn towards one of the streets, on the way to the park where they were supposed to meet.

It made him think about Meredy's words. What was his motivation for staying around? Was he still clinging to a chance for Juvia to reciprocate his feelings? Ever since the amusement park incident, they had been seeing each other more frequently. Juvia was also becoming more comfortable with him, unlike being generally uneasy whenever he made an advance on her before. Heck, she was even inviting him to hang out with her!

He then shook his head.

Reality check: the fact that Juvia was extending her invitation to him really meant that she simply saw him as a friend.

He checked his watch (which he was actually wearing this time) and saw that he was twenty minutes late from their meeting time. He walked with greater stance. Gray and Juvia were probably there already.

Scratch that. They probably weren't, since a certain pink-haired girl must've found a way to let them spend their time alone with each other.

Just as he had expected, Meredy was already there, sitting on the bench.

But she was not alone.

Three men were surrounding her at that moment.

Three _awfully _familiar men.

Something inside him ticked and he strode even faster.

"What is a beautiful lady like you doing here alone?" the one with bright blond hair asked.

The taller who had brownish blond locks spoke as well. "Would you like to join me in watching the parade later?"

"Aaaaah my lovely lady, you have such great fragrance!" the shortest of the bunch wearing a white tuxedo exclaimed with immense grace, reaching his hand to touch Meredy's, "If may I ask what parfum you are using-"

Before the man was able to do so however, another hand fell on his shoulder. Subsequently, the said shoulder was gradually being covered with ice.

"What is going on here?" Lyon interjected with irritation. He eyed the men present-the Trimens of Blue Pegasus...minus the dark-skinned one. They all turned their heads to him.

"Oh, hi Lyon," Meredy greeted casually, waving a hand. Only when he saw her untroubled face did he release his hand from the other man who literally obtained a cold shoulder.

"Ah, if it isn't Lyon Vastia-san," Hibiki said with his signature Blue Pegasus smile, "We were simply passing by and-"

"-we saw this beautiful flower all alone in the field-" the snow wizard Eve continued, giving off the same sparkly grin.

"-we simply had to approach her and appreciate her FRAGRANCE," their leader Ichiya exclaimed passionately while rubbing off the coldness from his shoulder.

Lyon was far from amused for some reason. He concluded that he generally found the presence of Blue Pegasus men annoying. "I see, then you may take your leave now."

Hibiki shrugged. "I don't see why we should."

Eve shrugged as well. "This is a free country, after all."

Ichiya nodded his head. "Right, right!" Without warning he pointed his finger towards the ice mage. "Unless of course, you are exclusively dating this lovely lady!"

Lyon was beyond irritated.

"And what if I am?!" he snapped without thinking. Truthfully there was no meaning behind what he had exclaimed, only plain frustration as he wanted them to just leave the vicinity. He began to regret it when he realized that he must've said the words louder than what he intended.

Because everyone in the park was looking at them already.

"Lyon? Is that you?" A familiar female voice joined in.

Chelia.

Lyon buried his face in his own hands. "Great. Just great."

A deep male voice was also heard. "Meredy?"

"Oh, Jellal!"

Everything around Lyon seemed to go in slow motion as he observed the crowd forming around him.

There was Meredy on the bench, surrounded by the three Blue Pegasus idiots...

And then there was Chelia, who apparently was also with Sherry and that other Blue Pegasus idiot fiancé of her.

There was also Jellal...who appeared to be with Erza the Titania.

For some reason, Lyon felt he was being sucked into a complicated hell hole.

Then everyone began talking.

"Lyon! Did you just say what I think you said?!"

"Did an angel fall from the sky?"

"No, it's actually a sky goddess!"

"A-ah! Hibiki-san~! Eve-san~! I-is this love?"

"Meredy...? You are dating someone...?"

"Now, Jellal, I don't see anything wrong with that."

"Hey, now! Look who's talking! It seems you two are finally dating!"

"N-NO WE ARE NOT!"

"Oh my, love is all over the place..."

"Not as much as I love you, Sherry... N-not that I actually mean that!"

"Oh, Ren~!"

"If it isn't Ren and the lovely Miss Sherry! The PARFUM OF LOVE is so strong in you!"

Lyon was becoming dizzy. When everyone was too preoccupied, Lyon turned to Meredy, who was snickering from her teasing of her blue-haired guildmate. As soon as she looked back at him, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the crowd.

Meredy was the first to speak as they walked away. "Hey, where are we going? How about Gray and Juvia?"

Lyon rubbed his temples with his free hand. "I just need to clear my head and... Where exactly are they anyway?"

"I sent them away to buy us some food for the program."

Just as he suspected. "Well, you shouldn't have."

Meredy pulled her hand away from him, causing them to halt in their tracks. Her face displayed confusion. "Is there a problem?"

Lyon crossed his arms. "I still don't understand why you do it."

"I have explained it to you last time right? I don't mind as long as Juvia is happy."

"But how about you? Weren't you thinking about yourself?"

Meredy pursed her lips together to suppress a laugh. "You're starting to sound like Jellal! Relax, will you? If you were worried about me being with those three guys earlier, I can protect myself. Have you forgotten that I was once a wanted criminal?"

Lyon's face turned into a bright shade of pink. "I just don't really trust those guys. Sorry about the lie, though. I'll explain everything to Chelia and the others tomorrow."

Meredy tried to suppress her laugh. "It's okay. I know you meant well anyway. But don't you think that by kidnapping me from the crowd, you're reinforcing the thought that we are actually dating?"

"Shit. Haven't thought of that. I should explain as soon as possible, then."

She grinned sheepishly. "Guess I have to explain it to Jellal too. I hope he believes me, though. He worries too much."

Lyon placed a hand under his chin. "On the second thought... I actually don't mind this arrangement. It should keep Chelia from bothering me."

"Hey! Now you're being selfish. Didn't you see the way she was glaring at me a while ago?"

And then he laughed, saying how he was only kidding. As he watched the way she pouted and crossed her arms, he made a mental note that he would no longer be late the next time they meet.

By the time Gray and Juvia arrived at the meeting place, no trace of the earlier crowd was left.

"Now, where did Lyon-sama and Meredy go?" the water mage said, who was holding two cups of juice.

Gray shrugged as he surveyed the surroundings. "Dunno. They must be here somewhere. Let's wait for them."

And they sat on the bench in silence, watching the passers-by. Gray munched on some caramel popcorn while Juvia was humming a tune contentedly.

And then the Trimens passed by and greeted them. As Gray was about to nod back in greeting, he was taken aback when they winked at Juvia.

And to his even greater surprise, Juvia winked back with a smile.

Gray had to shake his head to see that he wasn't hallucinating, but the moment had already passed and Juvia was again humming.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Gray-sama?" The blue-haired mage only gave an innocent smile.

And now he was irritated. Was it really just his imagination? Why was he even flustered, anyway? It must be just Ichiya reminding him of that stupid cupid from before, he convinced himself.

While Gray was having an internal turmoil beside her, Juvia's mind was thoroughly pleased that her plan had worked out. Now, they just had to wait for the arrival of her two friends...together.


End file.
